ULSAN — Ulsan will put 15 additional buses into service starting Oct. 3 as part of the first phase of a city bus route overhaul.
The city said on the 21st that the changes were finalized by taking into account resident complaints raised since a full route overhaul in December 2024, actual travel demand and the findings of a review by the city's public transit improvement committee. The main elements are the restoration and expansion of routes where demand was concentrated, along with adjustments to express coach routes.
Route 123 will be permanently restored to address travel demand toward Dong-gu. Five buses will run the route, linking Cheonsang and Guyeong with Taehwa-dong, Seongnam-dong and Myeongchon before continuing on to Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Bangeojin. Route 126, which has been running on a temporary basis since July with six reserve buses, will add two more for a total of eight. The average interval between buses will fall to 33 minutes from 44 minutes, a reduction of 11 minutes.
Route 743 will grow to eight buses from six and will be redrawn to pass through the Guyeong area again, reviving the function once served by the former Route 307.
Express coach routes will also be reorganized with an emphasis on direct connections and on-time performance. Route 1154 will run via the Sinbok intersection to draw off some of the demand now concentrated on Route 1224, while Route 1413 will cross the Ulsan Bridge and extend to Kkotbawi, spreading out congestion on Route 1421. Route 1115 will shift from Yeompo-ro to Asan-ro to cut travel time.
Student commuting requests were also reflected. At the suggestion of students at Dongcheon High School, the departure times for Route Buk-gu 12 from Dalcheon were pushed back from 3 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., delays of 30 minutes and 20 minutes respectively.
After this first phase, the city plans to pursue a second round of route changes in December, drawing on transit card big data, analysis of travel patterns and input gathered on the ground.
"We are working through the inconveniences identified on the ground one by one and improving them step by step," said Kim Chang-hyun, director general of Ulsan's transportation bureau. "We will build a stable public transit system that residents can feel the benefits of."
